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DELIVERED 



ST. ANDREWS CHURCH, 

ON THE 

BEFORE THE ST. ANDREW'S COMPANY, 

AND AT THEIR REQUEST. 

BY JOHN GEDDES, Jon. 



** The unity of Government which constitutes you one people* 
is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in 
the edifice of your real independence ; the support of your 
tranquillity at home ; your peace abroad ; of your safety ; of 
your prosperity ; of that very liberty which you so highly prize." 

Washington's Valedicfry Uddrest* 



t. B. STEPHENS, PRINTa 
182L 



■ Ct'S 



©IB^^I2®S?< 



Friends and Fellow-Citizens. 

At a period of perfect tranquillity at home, and 
d peace almost universal among the nations of the 
earth, we assemble to keep the birth day of our 
Country's emancipation from tyranny. An American 
on this occasion feels a pride to which the rest of 
mankind are comparatively strangers. He is animat- 
ed by the remembrance of the proud df^fiance showa 
by his Ancestors to a King and Ministry and Parlia- 
ment, who dared venture to treat them as slaves. He 
ici>ls a glory in recollecting the more than Roman 
valor and Spartan fortitude, with which, the Revolu- 
tionary Patriots fought through countless dangers 
and surmounted difficulties seemingly endless. He 
is almost amazed, at the adventure so bold and 
hazardous, of a people at once, changing their old 
habits and prejudices, and passing from a foreign 
yoke and kingly domination, to a state of self con* 
troul and free-government. If he is dazzled at the 
brilliance of the attempt, and delighted with the 
originality of its conception, he is more rejoiced at 
the extraordinary success which crowned the en-^ 
deavours of its projectors. The blessings flowing 
from that abundant source, he is experiencing in all 
their excellence. No human being like himself 
claims him as property. No homage is due from 
him to the chief of a nation, who inherits its inhabi- 
tants, as they do their lands and flocks and herds. — 
Tribute is not exacted from his industry to supply 



4 

coffers, whose overflowings are not to enrich the 
poor, not to help the weak, not to diffuse benefits 
among those who pay it, but to support indolent 
magnificence, ruthless ambition, and unfeeling des- 
potism. The rights which God and nature have be- 
stowed on him, are not measured out by a parsimo- 
nious hand, as a boon and grant from an earthly su- 
perior. The sanctity of the laws, the spirit of equali- 
ty, both the cause and the effect of the Constitution of 
his Country, infuse into his heart and his mind, the 
proper estimate of man's nature. He is born for 
himself and his Country. He knows no Governors 
in it, but those whom he and his Fellow Citizens 
choose to make so. He is taught no abject venera- 
tion for rulers. He looks at the public magistrates 
of his free Government through no false medium. — 
He considers them but as men, and no longer deserv- 
ing the regard of the nation, than they exhibit inte- 
grity, talents and patriotism ; a capability to dis- 
charge their duties, and a just sense of the rights of 
those, who placed them in station. 

Fellow-Citizens, near half a century has passed 
away since our forefathers waged the war, which 
established their Independence. The fortunes of the 
United States were singularly prosperous from the 
commencement, to the termination of this undertak- 
ing, then so novel, if not impracticable in the judg- 
ment of mankind. A great experiment had been 
already made by the very nation, of which this 
Country was a part, to overthrow monarchy, and 
institute a Government reconcileable with the equality 
of human rights. Success had attended their high 
minded efforts. The Throne had lost its mighty in- 
fluence. A long line of royal ancestry, a sacredness 
of personage, a birth right to rule, bestowed by the 
Constitution of his Kingdom, could not save their 
Monarch ftom being brought to the block. \Vhen 



the charm was broken which made them look at 
regal magesty as something divine, it was no difficult 
task to root out the aristocracy of their system. The 
Lords were abolished as a useless body, and the tre- 
mendous hierarchy levelled to the dust. A Com- 
monwealth and a Protector, w"ere substituted for 
hereditary prerogative and a crowned head. But 
how long did this departure from ancient institutions 
last ? Only little more than twelve years. The death 
of Cromwell, was followed by the restoration of the 
very family, whose right to reign, was now main- 
tained, with a zeal commensurate with the violence 
by whicbJt had so shortly before been denied. With 
this ex£^)!e, in their own history before them, the 
enemies of our revolution, looked to the existence of 
a republic here or elsewhere, as short lived. The 
United States might succeed in throwing off the yoke 
which they complained of as oppressive, but like the 
mother Country, would soon be weary of a new 
or^er of things, be glad to revert to monarchical rule, 
and submit again, to the dominion of the King, whose 
allegiance they had renounced. Some too, who 
wished well to the noble cause in which oui- Country 
was engaged, timid in their views, fearful only from 
historical analogy, might despair of a permanent con- 
tinuance of a new Government built up on the foun- 
dations of the old one. 

Without contrasting the difference of the age with 
that in which the commonweahh of England was in- 
troduced ; without reflecting on the more enlighten- 
ed state in which mankind are in modern times ; 
drawing no comparison between those subjects of 
tyrannical sway, immediately under the eye of their 
Sovereign, and the inhabitants of America who hved 
remote from the sphere in which the terrors and 
splendor of royahy are displayed, and the power of 
despotism, ready to act against its opposers in an 
instant ; not reflecting that the American contest was 



exclusively a political one, unmiiigled with the ec^ 
centricities of a fanatic Army and Legislature, whosq 
wild excess must naturally exhaust its own efforts ; 
these fearful, but well disposed reasoners, would have 
avoided a struggle originating in rebellion, in the ap- 
prehension, that tlie accomplishment of their object 
would be but temporary. This dread which was 
conjured up in weak minds, anterior to the declara- 
tion of our Independence, and which continued its in- 
fluence to the triumphant close of the war, might in 
minds so organized, have been again revived, when 
at a very recent period, and long after our revolution 
had been achieved, the successful trial .jnade by 
France to disenthral herself from the tyranlpof Kings 
and Nobles and Prelates, eventuated in the recalling, 
after little more than twenty years, of the brother and 
relatives of the Monarch, whose decapitation, and the 
destruction of his dynasty, were hailed as the era, 
whence to date, the anticipated happiness of the 
French Republic. Even in the progress of our late 
struggle with Great Britain, the idea however exr 
travagant seemed to be entertained, that a conquest 
of the United States was neither impossible, nor im- 
probable, The allusion to such an event, became 
familiar to the bitter enemies of our republican sys- 
tems. Their hopes and desires, met no obstacle, 
which might not be surmounted. The capture of the 
Capital, they ignorantly and maliciously identified 
with a reduction of the Country. In their wild re- 
joicings at an act, which barbarous and gothic, as it 
was, shoujd have caused them to blush with shame 
at so outrageous a violation of the laws of nations, 
they imagined for a moment, that the conflagration 
of the dwelling house of our Chief Magistrate, and of 
the Halls of the National Legislature, was to strike 
such a panic, as to put down opposition, and effect a 
4'eturn to the arms of a " Legitimate Sovereign,"— 
if the thought, or the suggestiouj had been cpafined 



to the enemy alone, it could be easily attributed td 
the deadliness of revenge, the jealousy which the 
enormously increasing power of this Country, was 
exciting in a rival, and the inveterate hostility to any 
Government, not founded as theirs is, on monarch- 
ical and aristocratic principles. But if it seriously oc- 
cupied the attention of some, who appeared to pro- 
mulgate it with a credulous pleasure, and operated 
on the fears of others, who w ere too blind to perceive 
its fallacy, we have only to regret, that treachery 
lurked in any bosom in this land, and that pusillani- 
mity could ever be predicated of an American. — 
How completely Fellow-Citizens, have such reason- 
ings, such fears, and such predictions been exposed 
as idle, by the unshaken stability of a Constitution, 
created by freemen, having Liberty for its guardian 
genius, Sovereignty, Independence, and the rights 
of man for its foundation, the union, strength, and 
safety of the nation, and the happiness of the people 
lor its superstructure ! Those seem regardless of, if 
not insensible to, the blessings they possess, and in- 
different to the advantages which fortune has extend- 
ed to them, in casting their lot in this happy landj 
who after our glorious success, now institute or pur- 
sue the enquiry doubtingly, as to the duration of our 
republican system. Their opinions if any such, are 
actually formed, and their alarms if any such, are in 
reality excited, may be attributable in some measure, 
to the motives and causes already shown to have in- 
fluenced the minds of^ thos^e, who considered as 
questionable, the uninterrupted effects of our revolu- 
tionary change. But besides these views, such 
politicians too fond of precedents in history, fancy sn 
principle of self destruction, or necessary end in our 
republic, because the Grecian democracies perished^ 
and the grandeur and glory of Roman Liberty, end- 
ed in a military and heriditary empire. The systems 
^f these nations had lasted for centuries. Under 



flieir genial influence, men had been raised from ob- 
scurity, to the first honors of their Country. By 
their spirit, the arts and sciences, literature and phi- 
losophy, had been advanced. Their annals are 
pregnant with the biography of Heroes, Orators, 
Patriots, Statesmen and Generals, who are models 
for the imitation of eviery age and quarter of the 
■world. In latter times also, a republic which had 
withstood the commotions and convulsions of suc- 
cessive ages, sunk under an overwhelming force, and 
surrendered their internal regulation, to an exotic 
pov\er. Switzerland, which had disencumbered 
herself from the supremacy of Austria, had succumb- 
ed to the conquering genius of Gallic ambition. It is 
the misfortune of such political prophets as I have 
refered to, that they do not understand the applica- 
tion of the tenets or doctrines, which they extract 
from the chronicles of various ancient and modern 
communities. Our government is one of its owa 
species. It may truly be asserted, that nothing Vikff 
it in pohtics is known. The representative principle 
was reserved for the discovery of North America 
alone, and it did verily ennoble its authors, as the 
discovery of the new Continent, has immortalized 
the name and fame of Columbus. In none of the 
ancient republics, w^re the people justly represented. 
Their controul or check on the men in office, was 
merely nominal, if even so. Aristocracy, was a pro- 
minent feature of the Roman Republic. The Patri- 
cians were a distinct order, and the Plebeians were 
but subordinate to them, in right and privilege.— i- 
The Consul or Dictator, had powers perfectly incon- 
sistent with what an American Magistrate would be 
allowed to hold, or acknowledged to be entitled to. 
In the institutions of Greece, the Governments sa* 
Voured both of mobocracy and oligarchy, and it is 
rather matter for wonder at this sta?^e of the experi- 
ence of mankind, particularly of the American 



people, how these ahnost anarchial Governments 
lasted so long, without systematic order, or constitu- 
tional limits to the prerogative of the rulers ; with- 
out ascertaining the exact authorities of the Gover- 
nors, and the necessary obedience to the laws, of the 
great mass of the populace. In every Government 
of this kind the mixture of orders will be found 
totally inconsistent with the principle of the popular 
sovereignty. When the will and actions of the 
people can be directed by lawgivers and functiona- 
ries, in whose appointment they have no voice ; 
when there is a hereditary branch of the Legislature, 
or a Senate for life, or a Military Magistrate entrust- 
ed with absolute authority over the destinies of the 
Country ; it is in vain to contend that such Govern- 
ments are pure repubhcs. There must be discon- 
tents and jealousies, where among some classes a 
haughty superiority is assumed and encouraged by 
iiie genius of such a Constitution, and a correspond"- 
ing inferiority is felt by others. This state of things 
engenders animosities, which breaking out into civil 
commotions and internal wars, must in its conse- 
quence expose the Country to foreign invasion and 
conquest. The ambition of a mighty potentate is 
soon avyakened, when he beholds a neighbouring 
people incensed among themselves. He sees that 
their contentions tend, but to weaken their own 
power. He watches the progress of their passions, 
and when the crisis arrives at which, in their mutual 
angry hostilities they seem to invite foreign interfer- 
ence, he seizes the occasion and annihilates their ex- 
istence as an Independent Nation. Whether it is a 
confederacy, or a single State, the fatal result is the 
same. The heterogeneous frame of the one, the ex-^ 
hausted strength of the other, and the distractions of 
both, soon offer a ready prey to the ambition 
of a conqueror. No such seeds of corruption 

B 



J'ellovv-Citizens^ exist in our Government. The 
Constitution of the Union, and of every member of 
it, is purely republican. The nature of each is the 
same. The temperament of our people is peculiarly 
congenial with liberty. As the General Government 
emanated from the people, it was not only entrusted 
with the power which was to guard them against 
perils from abroad, but invested with the preserva- 
tion of liberty at home. " The United States shall 
guarantee to every State in this Union, a Republi- 
can form of Government,'' is the grand principle on 
which oiir Government will last, " while the earth 
bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves." — While in- 
dulging the enthusiasm excited in our bosoms by the 
return of this eventful day, how^ naturally my country- 
men, we feel mingled with it, a grateful remem- 
brance of the services and greatness of the man, to 
whom under the favor of heaven, the Congress of the 
revolution confided the direction of their armies. — 
In the character of this distinguished hero, there was 
a combination of virtues and qualiues, which seemed 
almost to Ufthim, above human nature. Valor claim- 
ed him as her darling offspring. Liberty boasted of 
him as her brightest votary. The genius of war, en- 
raptured with such a disciple, appointed him his 
Vicegerent on this side of the Globe. When fortune 
presided over our banner^, he never in exultation lost 
the fruits of victory. In the darkest adversity, he 
never despaired of his Country. A succession of 
calamities, never made him tremble for her freedom. 
As he was the accomplished General and fortunate 
soldier in war, so he was the splended and wise 
Statesman at the head of the Government, which the 
glorious work of the revolution, enabled his com- 
patriots to establish. He had fought the battles, 
which created another nation on earth. That nation 
looked to him as the ornament of her councils. The 
illustrious commander who had thus wielded the 



II 

sword, was called with an ecstatic unanimity, to the 
Chief Magistracy of his Country. Let it be our 
pride, next to the love we have for God and our 
Country, to hold his principles sacred. Let every 
successive generation venerate his name. Let him 
be the object of their admiration, and the model for 
their imitation ; and the United States will perpetu- 
ate their liberties in immortalizing the memory of 
Washington ! — The character of our revolution, was 
of itself a sure earnest of its success. A hostile resis- 
tance to the authority of Great Britain was at first 
scarcely dreamt of. The American people presum- 
ed that a candid statement of the injuries which they 
suffered, from the mal-administration of the Govern- 
ment, whether arising from ignorance of their inter- 
ests, or envy of their condition, would obtain them 
ample redress. They appealed to the throne. They 
called upon the justice of their Fellow-Citizens in 
England, to interest themselves in their behalf, warn- 
ing them that in protecting the rights of the inhabit- 
ants of America, they were but guarding their own 
from encroachment. If the Constitution was violat- 
ed in the persons of subjects on this side of the At- 
lantic, those who were at home had no better secu- 
rity for their hberties, their lives, and their fortunes. 
The will and caprice of a privy council or prime 
Minister, with corruption as their instrument, and 
the gratification of a sordid ambition as their aim, 
might enrich their satelhtes with the spoils of the 
Nation. 

To temperate remonstrances, petitions and solici- 
tations, repeated with patience, and addressed to 
every generous feeling of the heart, and every dictate 
of the understanding, the constituted authorities and 
the people of England were deaf. They scorned 
with contemptuous disdain, every application for the 
relief of American wrongs, which had not unconditi- 
onal submission for its basis. When argument became 



12 

exhausted, physical strength was the last resort ioi 
men, who were willmg to sacrifice every earthly 
consideration, rather thap. crouch to a master. As 
their minds were gradually perpared for opposition, 
their ultimate views extended, far beyond their origi- 
nal prospect. Just dissatisfaction, and a long suffer- 
ing of evils, in the daily hope of their removal, had 
increased by degrees, to open enmity, and a firm re- 
solve, to punish with their own hands, the insolence 
of their aggressors. The day of reconciliation 
w as passed. If peace ever came, it was to be, not 
between a parent State and Colonies, but between 
distinct Sovereignties. 

When applicants for justice were denounced as 
rebels, and armies transported to crush them, it was 
time to convince the unwise court and its merciless 
ministers, that men who avoided the last extremity, 
with such sincere solicitude, w^ere the fittest to meet 
it, with stout hearts and unconquerable courage. The 
empire of which the United States had been a com- 
ponent part, was now dismembered for ever. 

The blow which was struck at Lexington, could 
never be revenged, but by an eternal separation from 
the savage invaders of human rights, whose hands 
were reeking with the blood of the innacient, 
martyred in support of the first law of nature, the 
principle of self-preservation. And how thorough the 
retribution which our forefathers made, to the authors 
of their grievances ! how full was the satisfaction 
which their heroic exertions gained, from the instiga- 
tors of murder, the instruments of cruel warfare, and 
the myrmidons of despotism. Through a war of 
seven years, their previously unskilled valor, aston- 
ished the civilized world. The vast force which ad- 
vanced from Canada, soon changed their ostentati- 
ous vaunts, into tribulation and repentance. 

Burgoyne found his orders obeyed too literally. — 
'^ This army must not retreat," was the injunction 



15 

which was strictiy complied with at Saratoga, The 
gallant defence of Fort Moultrie, animating the ar- 
dor of the nation and the Congress which had just 
shaken oiT the yoke of the ruthless foe — the brilliant 
exploits of Trenton and Princeton, the battles of the 
Cowpens. the Eutaw Springs, King's Mountain and 
other numberless displays of discipline, chivalry and 
Irresistable fortitude and finally the surrender of 
Cornwallis, whose boasted army was to subdue the 
spirit of the South, and extinguish the sparks of re- 
|3elIion, opened the eyes of his Britannic Majesty to 
the prowess and patriotism of the American people. 
He lived to see them fulfil their solemn protestation, 
and redeem their pledge, to die or be free. He lived 
to acknowledge the rights and independence of a 
country, whose inhabitants he had outlawed as sedi- 
tious, and branded as traitors. He lived, to behold 
America, her Washington, and her Congress, humble 
the pride of his Kingdom and his parliament, and to 
feel the feebleness and insignificance of royalty, 
when opposed to the genuine vigor of liberty. — After 
such an experience of the resources and principles of 
this Country, it might well have been hoped, that 
the pacific relations follow ing the recognition of our 
Sovereignty, w ould have been studiously preserved 
by the English Government. They had roused a 
people, who in defence of their freedom were terrible 
to their enemies, and mighty in their strength. All 
the objects for which these people had fought and 
bled, had been attained. They had asserted the 
dignity of their race, upheld the pride of 'men, born 
to inalienable immunities. They had honorably taken 
vengeance for the imposition of their oppressors, by 
compelhng them to renounce their pretensions, ta 
govern this part of the Universe. They had settled 
their National Independence, and established person- 
al liberty and equal rights on solid foundations. — - 
They were reposing in the enjoyments of the bless- 



14 

ings their valor had won. They were happy in the 
glorious certainty, that they would transmit them un- 
impaired to a posterity, worthy of such an inherit- 
ance. Such a people it might easily have been fore- 
seen, would be peculiarly tenacious of an acquisition, 
purchased with precious blood ixnd immense treasure, 
It would be guarded and watched, with unsleeping 
vigilance, like the golden apples in the gardens of 
the Hesperides. Their sons imbibing the tenets of their 
fathers, would prize the palladium handed do wn to them 
as incapable of an equivalent. To its intrinsic value, 
would be added the sacred remembrance, of the an- 
cestry who obtained it. They would be feelingly 
alive to the slightest effort, to pollute its excellence, 
or tarnish its beauty. They would resent, even a 
look which the eye of the spoiler, would insultingly 
give it. This expectation of peaceable policy on the 
part of Great Britain, was however, soon disap- 
pointed. Prudence which would have dictated that 
course, had abandoned her counsels, and Jealousy 
and resentment, it was too evident, had survived the 
cessation of hostilities. As her scheme to enchain us 
as colonies was frustrated, a wish to insult and un- 
derrate us in consequence, as a nation, seemed her 
ruling passion. Her conduct presented the appear- 
ance of an armistice, rather than a peace. From the 
ratification of the treaty of '83, to our second appeal to 
arms, a succession of provocations, and a repitition 
of injuries, exhibited on her part, a most hostile envy 
of the rank which the Independence of our country, 
had enabled it to assume, among the nations of the 
earth. And my countrymen, what a lesson, has she 
been taught in the late conflict ! If the war of the 
Revolution, lost her a prodigious and wealthy portion 
of her empire, that of 1812, has wrested from her a 
glory, which for ages she had haughtily proclaimed 
to be confined to herself. Her repeated defeats on 
the ocean J have startled her from the (Jelusion — that. 



u 

of that element, she was Mistress. — Our wonderful 
victories on the Lakes, have shown her that not only 
ship to ship, but squadron to squadron, America,* 
can vanquish in combat. — Here my friends the name 
of Perry comes both with dehght and sorrow across 
our memory — His country is mourning for her berea- 
vement, of so gallant a hero, so accomplished a cham- 
pion of her honor, so valuable a protector of her 
rights. Her tears for his loss, are mingled with the 
conscious joy, and glorious pride she indulges, — 
while reviewing the catalogue of the illustrious orna- 
ments, who are identified with her greatness, and 
reflect a brilliance on her character. — Such displays 
of comsummate skill in naval warfare, have satisfied 
the world fully, if it had before been doubted, that 
America can protect her sovereignty and her com- 
merce on the seas, as easy as she defends her freedom 
on the land. As the trident has been snatched from 
the hands of Britain, and the wooden walls of Old 
England, have been proved no impregnable rampartj 
let her look to her national existence. 

A Conqueror established his dynasty in her Island — 
A formidable Armada may not always be disper- 
sed by a storm. — When the spell of fancied invinci- 
bility is dissipated, there are powers, whose ambition 
of conquest supposed never to exist, may awake, as it 
were from its slumbers. — As the actions of our 
Navy overturned the faith of Britain in her unri- 
valled supremacy on the ocean, so the performances 
of the Army undeceived her as to the suspicion, that 
we had degenerated from our Ancestors j and were 
unfit to encounter the enemy whom they had humbled. 
With the spirit of Montgomery hovering over the 
Star-spangled-banner, the war was carried into Ca- 
nada. York beheld the Eagle "sailing with supreme 
dominion," and perched upon her ramparts. The 
roar of the Republican cannon, and the triumphant 
shouts of its victory, were mingled with the thunder- 



16 

ing sounds of Niagara's falls. Fort Erie and Chip- 
pewa, witnessed the '' feathered King" of America j 
scattering the forces of their transatlantic Monarch, 
by '' the terrors of his beak, and the lightnings of his 
eye."— Had the war been prolonged, another cam- 
paign might have found our Army, imder the frown- 
ing battlements of Quebec. — To attempt again, what 
has once been achieved, could not be called, a ro- 
mantic Expedition. That " a Victorious Army finds 
no difficulties,"-— Wolfe proved to an admiring world. 
His ascension of the heights of Abraham, wrested 
Canada from the mighty monarch o[ France. In the 
destinies of fate, it might have happened, that the 
intrepid Pike, in an enterprize which would have 
called forth all the energies of his war-like genius, 
should " meet death" hke him, not only in the arms 
of victory, but, in the very scene of his imperishable 
renown. — Not only in the advancement into the ene- 
mies' territories, did the American army exhibit thtf 
highest evidences of discipline and patriotic valor^^^ 
but in resisting invasion, they made such lasting im- 
pressions on the fears of their antagonists, that it may 
safely be calculated, that no hostile footsteps will 
again tread our soil. The occupation of Louisi- 
ana, was the aim of the most formidable armament 
collected during the contest. But the gigantic ef- 
forts of Jackson, soon shattered into pieces this 
vaunted adamantine mass. Against this great and 
celebrated General, and his hardy soldiers, the tac- 
tics and experience of Europe w ere exercised in vain. 
His rapid operations and extraordinary judgment^ 
soon discomfited the invading Brigades. In disgrace 
and flight they abandoned the project which was to 
confer by its inevitable success, glory on its promo- 
ters, and distinguished rewards on its executioners — |] 
Inhabitants of St. Andrew s — The pleasure of com- ' 
memorating our Country's Birth-Day, is heightened 
by the satisfaction I feelj in a, festive intercourse with 



17 

I «iitizens so patriotic as yourselves. I cannot refraiii 
from expressing to you my grateful acknowledge- 
ments, for the honor you have conferee! on me.— 

^ Your Parish ranks high in the esteem of Carolina, 

' As long as this day is dedicated to the remembrance 
of our valorous forefathers, the spirit which ani- 
mated them to oppose a tyrant, w ill prompt their 
sons to imitate their example. As long as w ith a 
holy enthusiasm, the American people throughout the 
country, annually offer up to Heaven thanks for the 
bliss and favors which are so plentifully showered on 
them, they w ill be the dread of despots, and the safe 

, depository of the Liberties of Ma^nkind. — Fellow- 
Citizens, it is pleasant on this day to turn our atten- 

I tion to the noble efforts which are made in the cause 
of Liberty, in different parts of the world. In the 
possession of its sweets, we do not selfishly wish to 

I appropriate them to ourselves. The participation of 
them, belongs to the human race. Nations who are 
groaning under bondage, have but themselves to 
blame, when they see before them a bright example 
of the effcciency of the people, to be their own rulers. 
Our brethren of South America are persevering in 
their opposition to the oppressive dominion of Spain. 
They have ignorance and bigotry to contend with— 
Their progress is interrupted by these difficulties, but 
their final triumph will be certain. When they ac- 
complish the vvork of Lidependence, may they re- 
ceive instruction from us, how to perpetuate its bene- 
fits ! — There is another revolution, which peculiarly 
attracts the attention of mankind — it interests the 
philanthrophist and excites the most enthusiastic emo- 
tions in the classical mind. Greece is resuscitated 
from the lethargic repose of ignominious slavery.— 
The shade of Leonidas has revisited his country, 

I Inspired by the recollection of their ancient glory, 
Athens, Lacedemon, Corinth, may again be identi- 
fied with the polish of science, the refinement of the 



18 

^rts, and the influence of Liberty. — One Nation has 
unfortunately failed, in a valiant struggle against a 
most detestable attack on her sovereignty — Naples^ 
to which Italy and the world were lookhig for a revi- 
val of the courage and patriotism of the old Republic 
of Rome, has yielded shamefully to the foul interference 
of an Emperor, who in this enlightened age declared, 
^- that he does not like learned men.'' Humiliating 
to human nature, as is the alternative, it is preferable 
to assign treachery and gold, as the causes of this 
unexpected and sudden deUvery of their country 
into the hands of a foreign despot, rather than suspect 
or believe that the spirit which promised a desperate 
resistance was but a vapor, if it exists in reality, 
in the hearts of the people, it will burst forth, as soon 
as an opportunity offers of breaking their fetters on 
the heads of their oppressors. — With the hopes Fellow 
Citizens, we entertain for the success of some, and 
the fears we have for the fall of others, who are 
fighting to save all that is dear to them, how grateful 
ought Americans to be for the abundant felicity which 
prevails throughout their Republic ! Our national 
wrongs have been amply revenged on those who in- 
flicted them, by this righteous war of the Revolution, 
and the late cause in which the present generation 
embarked. If Great Britain is now desirous in sin- 
cerity, of a lasting friendship with the United States, 
there is every feeling and reason on our part, to reci- 
procate kindness and to interchange an amicabk 
communication. Harmony between such Nations, 
is '' a consumation devoutly to be wished." It can- 
not but contribute to the prosperity of both. But if 
this power or any other, forgetful of the past, and 
regardless of Justice, should ever pretend to treat us 
with insult, if the memorials of American glory, 
should in the lapse of time be faintly remembered by 
the enemies of Liberty, and they be tempted to ap- 
proach our shores in the attitude of hostility, then 



19 

xiiay we be sure that the exalted dignity of our Coun-^ 
try will be maintained spotless as ever,— that the 
majesty of the people will rise in hs resistless impe- 
tuosity, that the fires of Freedom blazhig on her 
sacred altars, will illuminate the w orld wuh their lus- 
tre and consume the idolaters of tyranny, who dare 
venture with sacrilegious steps, within the sphere oi 
thpir coflagration, 




I 




